Virtual Farm Walk and Webinar

On Thursday October 1st 2020 Shane Fitzgerald participated in a live webinar from his farm. This was followed by a virtual farm walk of his farm where he gave information on the steps being taken to reduce the carbon footprint of his milk production system. View the webinar below. Also the video snips from the farm walk covering:

Grass: From the ground up
Cows: Navigating our way
Reducing nitrogen
Water quality
Biodiversity: Room for nature
Management: Creating a great workplace
Energy efficiency

This webinar highlighted the steps being taken by the Fitzgerald family to reduce the carbon footprint of their milk production & improve sustainability on farm. Moderated by Richie O'Brien of Teagasc featured Shane Fitzgerald, farmer; Brendan Horan, Teagasc research officer & Shane McElroy, Glanbia

Let’s Talk Dairy Bonus Episode: Fitzgerald Family Farm Virtual Farm Walk

With the current Covid restrictions in place, Teagasc is running a weekly Let’s Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. This latest webinar highlighted the many steps being taken by the Fitzgerald family to reduce the carbon footprint of their milk production and to improve sustainability on farm, providing an opportunity to share their experiences with the wider farming community.

Fitzgerald Family Farm - Reducing Carbon Footprint of Milk Production
The main focus of the Fitzgerald Family Farm social media takeover and webinar was to showcase what they are doing to reduce their carbon footprint while also maintaining a high performance and profitability in their herd
Reducing Nitrogen Usage
The Fitzgeralds are doing a number of things to reduce nitrogen usage. The main target is to improve soil fertility, increase pH, spread lime each year and build on P & K. They reseed 10% of the farm every year & incorporate clover into the mix,cut down on nitrogen in spring and autumn.
Energy Efficiency Improvements
As part of the Teagasc/Glanbia Future Farm Programme, the Fitzgeralds are looking at energy usage on the farm.They have recently installed solar panels on the farm. Find out what else the Fitzgeralds are looking at doing to conserve energy on their farm
Water Quality
The Fitzgerald Family Farm has very free draining soils, so they are always conscious of nitrogen leaching into waterways on the drier fields and phosphorous leeching though sediment loss on the heavier fields. Watch and see what they are doing to manage their fertilizer accordingly
Biodiversity -Room for Nature
The Fitzgerald family farm has a baseline assessment score of 18% for biodiversity this is considered high. A number of features on the farm contribute to this such as hedgerows, water courses, whooper swans. A proportion of their land plays host to low input pastures and wildflower seeds.
Worklife Balance - Creating a great workplace
The Fitzgerald's understand the importance of a good work life balance on the farm. Shane loves travelling and his father John has a passion for vintage tractors. The Fitzgerald's take a number of steps to ensure they can continue to enjoy their off farm activities.